If You Give a Kid a Piece of Paper

Posted in DemEd in Real LifePhilosophy of EducationParenting on Jul 25, 2010 - 06:02 PM

If you give a kid a piece of paper, she's going to ask for a crayon. When you give her the crayon, she'll probably ask you for more crayons, or maybe some stencils, or perhaps some stickers and glitter.

Of course, she may stop asking entirely.

She may just take the paper, smile, and start creating. She might fold the paper into different directions, making a brand new-to-her origami shape. Maybe she'll fold a paper airplane, show it to her friends, and then, after showing them how to make one, have a flying contest to see whose plane flies the highest, the fastest, the longest.

Maybe she'll tear it up into confetti and throw an instant party. Maybe she'll cut a continuous spiral in it until it folds out into a walk-through door, which she then might ask you to hold up for her as she walks through, transporting herself into Narnia or Neverland or her own private Wonderland.

Maybe she'll use the crayon to inscribe a secret message--in code, of course--to slide into an empty Yoo-Hoo bottle, which she will then send adrift to be found by the wild things, or aliens from another world, or a lost cousin who will immediately recognize the code and write her back.

The way she takes that single piece of paper and makes an entire adventure out of it might seem like a marvel, as it should be; it could also be seen as a common childhood occurrence, as it also should be. Should that freedom to experiment, play, tinker with, and dream be applied to something else--say, play dough, or pet care, or engineering, or oncology--imagine the possibilities.

Tags for this entry:
self-directed learning, freedom, creativity, unschooling, homeschooling, imagination, experimentation

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